Saturday, September 4, 2010

Who stole the sole?

Another human foot has washed up on shore on the Washington/Canada border, adding fuel to the speculative fire as to exactly what the hell is going on up there.

It's a right foot, either a woman or juvenile and, unlike other feet, was not found floating in a shoe. This is the eighth foot since 2007 and officials estimate that it had been in the water less than 2 months. This kills the theory that all these feet are coming from the same accident, but it doesn't preclude that these are all unrelated incidents....Officials are in the process of gathering forensic info from neighboring jurisdictions.

Whidbey Island, where the foot was found, does have an interesting story to tell about dismemebered bodies:

"In 1850, Colonel Isaac N. Ebey became the first permanent settler on Whidbey Island, claiming a square mile (2.6 km²) of prairie with a southern shoreline on Admiralty Inlet. Even though he was farming potatoes and wheat on his land, he was also the postmaster for Port Townsend, Washington and rowed a boat daily across the inlet in order to work at the post office there. On August 11, 1857, Colonel Ebey was murdered and beheaded by Haida Indians who traveled from the Queen Charlotte Islands. Ebey was 39 years old. Ebey was slain in retaliation for the killing of a Haida chief at Port Gamble."

The fort named in his memory was installed just north of a place called "Coupeville". "Coupe" meaning "Cut" in French. (Named after Captain Thomas Coupe). Or it may be a variant of Coop:

1. English: metonymic occupational name for a cooper, from Middle English coupe ‘tub’, ‘container’ (see Cooper). In some cases the surname may have been derived from a pub or house sign.

2. Dutch: from koop ‘purchase’, ‘bargain’, hence a nickname for a haggler or a metonymic occupational name for a merchant.

Not that any of these things has to do with another. But the question remains. What's with all the feet? Why here and not elsewhere?

1 comment:

  1. That's the 8th foot, right? Merging this post data from with our reports "Foot Ho" & "Sixth Foot Ashore", I think the history is:

    1. 8/20/07 – male right foot; size 12 Campus near Jedidiah Island

    2. 8/26/07 – male right foot; size 12 Reebok on Gabriola Island

    3. 2/2/08 – male right foot; size 11 Nike on Valdez Island

    4. 5/22/08 – female right foot; size 7 New Balance on Kirkland Island

    5. 6/16/08 – male left foot; size 11 Nike on Westham Island. DNA match to #3.

    6. 11/11/08 – female left foot; New Balance on the Fraser River. Match to #4.

    7. 10/27/09 - gender? (this picture looks male to me) right foot, size 8.5 white Nike running shoe on the beach at Number 6 Road & Triangle Road in Richmond, British Columbia

    8. 8/27/10 - woman or juvenile's right foot (based on size), approx. 2 months into decomposition, with no shoe or sock on east side of central Whidbey Island Beach, Washington state, in Crane's landing area

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